All Australian Xbox One Pre-Orders Will Now Come With A Free Copy Of FIFA 14

We were previously informed that the FIFA 14 pre-order deal for the Xbox One, which was announced in Europe a while back, would not be extended to Australians but things have now changed. If you have already pre-ordered an Xbox One console in Australia, you are now guaranteed a digital copy of the game for your console.

The offer will also be extended to all future pre-orders in the lead up to launch, while stocks last. This announcement comes in the wake of news that the Xbox One will launch in Australia on November 22, in line with all other global markets.

“Today is an exciting day for Xbox in Australia with the confirmation of our launch date of November 22,” said Jeremy Hinton, Interactive Entertainment Business Lead at Microsoft Australia, “so we’ll be one of the first countries in the world to launch Xbox One. Xbox is the best place to play games and we are delighted by the pre-orders of Xbox One. Australians love their sport and their sports games and our Xbox One FIFA 14 bundle in particular is our gift to those Xbox fans who pre-order early. Also, to make sure people who pre-ordered the Day One Edition Console don’t lose out, we’ll be making sure they all receive a copy of FIFA 14 too.”

When the FIFA 14 deal was announced for European territories, I was surprised to hear the deal wasn’t extended to Australia, where FIFA 14 is equally as popular. Good to hear there was a change of heart.

It's a free game for crying out loud not an STD... are gamers really getting this entitled?
How can someone be less likely to purchase a X1 because of a free offering?
If you aren't interested you don't download it and somehow life will go on... the X1 launch offering remains unchanged for the individual so how can they be less interested?

How can someone be less likely to purchase a X1 because of a free offering?

Okay, rather superficial reason but here we go...

That someone will make the connection of the free offering to Xbox and thus lessens the Xbox brand for them. For example if you hated soccer/sports game for whatever reason, you will associate that hate with the brand you're buying into... buying into because unlike a product, a brand promises the future. So Xbox now becomes Xbox that likes soccer/sports and may offer sport related discounts or incentives instead of a genre/games you may like.

This person may look at an PS4 which is very similar to the Xbox and likes who PS4 associates with more. This person would now be less likely to buy an Xbox.

It wasn't really my intention to come off as entitled... My point was more of all the games they could have picked to give away for free on Day 1, FIFA is a game that myself and many others would find absolutely worthless... It would be almost instantly traded for a trivial discount for another game... except we can't since it's digital only.

See if it came with Ryse, my interest in a day one purchase would have grown, rather than shrunk.... because a new IP is a much more interesting prospect than a regurgitated yearly DLC.

Maybe EA were the only ones they could work out a good deal with to get this as a free title? And for the many others you claim would find this absolutely worthless, there are an equal amount that will be extatic about this. FIFA has got to be the best selling sport franchise in this country and it gets bigger every year, as does the popularity of the A-League. Giving this game out free with the Xbone makes perfect sense.

FIFA is the game that encouraged hackers to break into my Xbox Live account in order to use my money to purchase the game's expensive 'ultimate team' DLC. I'd be happy if that horrible series died in a ditch to be honest.

Well I am a massive Fifa (and Football) fan and was going to buy it anyway, so this is great news for me. This will be a big incentive for many people as Fifa is the biggest sports game on the planet and whilst people may not think it has much of a force in AU, you are wrong. Fifa does big numbers down here and there are plenty of people like me who grab the new Fifa every September. Now I can justify buying Fifa 14 in September for Xbox 360 as I'll have a free upgrade waiting for me on November 22.

Buddy it's given as a reward to day one pre orders in territories that are getting less support than the US to thank its customer base for being loyal, something. Sony would never ever do! Did they thank me for giving them $1000 for the 60gb ps3 at launch? No is had to deal with motorstorm and resistance

You have obviously never sat back with a couple beers and versed your mates... by far the best social game that has been through our household. In saying that it has caused more dead arms and broken controls haha. The rivalry is awesome. This just makes the xbox better value than the ps4 by a long shot... unless they come back with a free game themselves? But right now xbox is winning for value

No you are not. In fact, I am so pissed as to why they would include such an arse humping craptacular game with NO alternative offered that I will be cancelling my pre order and waiting for a less stupid bonus to be offered.

The offer will also be extended to all future pre-orders in the lead up to launch, while stocks last.

"While stocks last"? It's a digital product.. are they going to run out of bits or something? Or is this referring to the console i.e. you only get it if you get a pre-order for launch day? Because I was under the impression that launch day pre-orders for both XBone and PS4 were, if not already sold out, pretty close to it?

The x1s branded with "Day One 2013" or whatever it was have sold out. But you can still pick up a regular x1 which is the same in every way except the bonus cheevo and stamp on the controller for launch day pick up. My local EB can't even guarantee me a ps4 this year so I'll wait for that one and just pick up the one at launch.

Not running out of a digital product, just running out of codes. There'd be a heap of pieces of paper with FIFA 14 codes on them, each shop only gets so many of them. I assume that's what the "While stocks last" is referring to.

Your dreaming! Thats nearly $300 bucks of added content!! Id have that in a heart beat over a soccer game. But i cant stand soccer either, game of pretty boys and penalty milking. But strokes for folks i say!

Well, considering you can't get FIFA anywhere for $50 for at least a few months after launch - this makes the Xbox One (+Fifa14) better value at $599 than the PS4 and no games at $549. For those who aren't keen of football - you could easily get $50 for the code up until March from an Xbox One owner. Will depend on how quick the Day One editions sell out though. Still - great value.

If you play FiFA that is. And for people that do - that's a massive amount of time sink in that one title. I usually complete a club season or two - and spend at least one season as Be A Pro. I usually buy PeS and FiFA , but with no next Gen PeS this year - I'm happy to spend no extra than the cost of my console to be up to date with Football games in Gen8.

Now we'll await word of those PS4/KZ/2nd pad bundles being released here - and pricing.

It won't be everyone's cup of tea (and I'm sure we'll hear ALL about it in these here comments) - but personally - I'm stoked.

Reminds me of when I got a copy of Amped with my original xbox or 360 or whatever the hell it was, I don't remember. I think EB was offering fifty cents trade-in for it or something, I'd have got more value-for-money entertainment by finding a creative way to smash it and posting the video on youtube.

To me this news is like, "Comes with a free coaster." Actually, a coaster would be more exciting.

(Edit: That wasn't meant to be a reply, but hey! It's one of those comments you were talking about! :) )

Football is on the rise in Australia and I think this bundle is a reflection of that. It's also a smart move with the Hyundai A-League kicking off next month (HAL obviously featuring within FIFA14).

Great job Micro Australia, EA Australia and all others involved - a great source of promotion for the HAL, Micro's system and the FIFA franchise. This is a bundle that is sure to please many Football and FIFA fans Australia wide.

Do you know you're the first person I've ever seen actually use the sponsor's name when discussing a sporting competition? :P I mean... I never hear anybody say the "Toyota AFL" except the official voice over guy on the TV. Do you work for Hyundai, the A-League or an associated marketing company? :P

I already had an Xbone pre-ordered and a FIFA game is always a staple of any console as far as I’m concerned, I was thinking of buying it anyway so this is just a free bonus.

I’m starting to think though that I might have a very safe set of pre-order titles now. I wanted to buy games that I knew I’d get plenty of hours out of instead of the riskier ones that might suck (but probably won’t). I’ve gone with Forza, Battlefield and now FIFA- all sure things but i’m now concerned now that if Dead Rising, Watchdogs or Assassins Creed are great I might regret my initial picks.

Perhaps, but the other 100 odd million might agree totally - as I, and every single gamer I know does. Football has a relatively small interest base in gaming. They should have had either a choice, or at least a game that would appeal to the MAJORITY of gamers such as a FPS or even racing game.

It's great to know we get something, as time went on I was wondering if anywhere outside EU would even get a free game, so that's good.

So don't get me wrong when I say this, but I am not exactly a football fan and would have rather had Forza 5 like some retailers are offering in the UK (would have actually been a good tie in for all the Bathurst stuff going on). But in saying that, free is free and I definitely will play it since I like playing FIFA games more than watching the sport, so bring it on. :)